Drunken Lover
by crywishes
Summary: [ONESHOT Fix-it Fic] Beth leaves Grady with the group safe and sound. After the welcome party at Alexandria, she and Daryl spend some alone time together, away from all the others. Written to "Imagine your OTP slow-dancing to a love song, with Person A quietly singing the words in Person B's ear."


**[ONESHOT Fix-it Fic] Beth leaves Grady with the group safe and sound. After the welcome party at Alexandria, she and Daryl spend some alone time together, away from all the others.**

**Written to "Imagine your OTP slow-dancing to a love song, with Person A quietly singing the words in Person B's ear."**

* * *

Beth needed to get away.

The booze, the people, the chatter-the noise. It was all just... _noise_. Yeah, sure, the welcome party to Alexandria was nice and all, but it didn't mean that she wanted to stay in there the whole night. The stress was getting to her more than she'd realized, and before she knew it she'd downed like half a bottle of wine without knowing it. First chance she got, Beth took the opportunity to sneak out the door to the porch, feeling relieved when she found Daryl already there, smoking a cigarette as he sat on the front steps.

"Hey," she said, struggling to hide the slur in her speech, "Why are you out here?" The humidity outside hit her like a truck and she immediately felt her skin feel sticky. She regretted leaving the indoor air conditioning for about half a second before she remembered why she left in the first place. Daryl took the smoke out from between his lips and briefly looked over his shoulder to see her before going back to stare into the night.

"Could ask you the same thing." He replied, his voice gruff. Beth took a seat on the stairs behind him and stared out into the dark streets of Alexandria. She knew why he was out here, she just asked to try and make conversation. It was nice outside. It was quiet. It was away from the hot mess of socialization and liquor and people. Outside, looking up at the night sky, you could see the moon so clearly. The cicadas and the sound of wind dancing in and out of the leaves on the trees made for a song that only nature could sing so beautifully.

"I had like 5 glasses of wine or somethin' in there," Beth admitted, "That moonshine we had back at that shack was a lot stronger than the stuff they have here, but I think I might've had too much." She laughs a little and looks down to her hands as she places them in her lap, trying to focus on something so that everything would stop spinning. Her head was light and if she leaned too much to one side she knew she'd fall over, so she just maintained this rhythmic oscillation that only made her feel dizzier than she already was. Vicious circle.

"Damn, you're buzzed right now aren't ya?" Daryl turns to look at her completely and he can tell from the droopiness of her eyes and the redness of her cheeks that she was far beyond buzzed. "Take that back, you're just straight up drunk."

"I am not _drunk_." Beth argues, not even realizing that she'd nodding off as she tries to contradict him.

"Yeah? Stand on one leg." Beth defiantly darts up and does so, only to tip to one side and fall into the wall. Daryl stifles a laugh and Beth rolls her eyes at him, frowning.

"Whatever," she jokingly scoffs, finding his reaction kind of adorable.

"A'ight," He gets up and puts the cigarette out on the steps before brushing himself off. He leans down in front of her and puts his arms up to this sides, offering her a piggy back ride as he'd done so before. "C'mon. Let's get you home."

While she was pretty sure she could walk home herself, she didn't really feel like turning down such a rare opportunity.

* * *

She wasn't quite sure how things ended up like the way they did, but for once in her life she wanted to step up and do something spontaneous. It was late, she was borderline wasted, and she felt like she could've been Beyonce with how flawless she was feeling.

"It's the end of the world, Daryl." She teases. "Seriously? What have you got to lose?" Holding out her hand in front of her, she playfully fixes her gaze on the fish-out-of-water standing across the room. She wasn't sure where her confidence was coming from, but she was pretty sure the wine had something to do with her newfound courage. Daryl Dixon, leaning in the doorway to the living room with his arms crossed in front of him had a cheeky smirk on his face.

"I ain't one for dancin'." He scoffs, finding it hard to believe that she ever thought otherwise. Everyone else was still at Deanna's house at the party and it was just the two of them in the house they were staying in for the time being. It was one of the few times Daryl's been inside since he prefers staying out on the porch, and he had to admit-it wasn't all that bad. Beth lets out a groan.

"C'mon, just do it. Just one, okay? One." She walks towards him as steadily as she can, and pulls him to the small area of the living room void of furniture. Daryl hesitantly follows. She untangles his arms and places them on her waist as she hooks her hands together around his neck. She sees the tips of his ears turn pink and she laughs, stepping side to side. It wasn't much, but Daryl was able to follow along with her so that they moved in synchronization. She closes her eyes and rests her head on his chest, partially because she wanted to and partially because she was starting to have trouble keeping her head up and her eyes open. She couldn't see his face or how red he was probably turning, but she figured that if he wasn't uncomfortable enough to push her away then things were fine. Daryl would tell her what he wasn't okay with, and she'd be okay with that. Although he was quiet, his hands still rested on her waist, and Beth took that as a good sign.

"Well if I'm dancin', then you haveta do somethin' for me, too." He said, sounding a bit frazzled. Beth lifted her heavy head up to look at him and waited, surprised that he was asking something from her instead of the other way around. They stop their makeshift dancing and he returns her gaze. "Sing." Beth breaks out into a smile.

"Oh." She rests her head back down on his chest, cheeks feeling flushed at the thought of Daryl wanting to hear her sing. After a few moments of silence, she resumes their dance and begins to sing, head still down, eyes still closed.

"I'm a little bit drunk, you're a little bit stoned.  
I'm a little bit restless, we're both alone,  
tonight."

Daryl feels himself finally relax. He was scared for a moment, at what her reply meant. But he was relieved that she agreed to, or else he would have just embarrassed himself real bad just then. He'd brushed off her singing lots of times before, but he hadn't even realized how accustomed he'd become to the sound of her voice.

"Forget the day you've had, forget the loves you've lived  
Oh you and I are experts at pretending to be kids.  
Wash off all your grass stains, I'll pull off my shoes.  
Let's love like we are kids, all shiny and new."

Daryl tucks her head under his chin and holds her a little bit closer, and she makes herself at home in his arms. Listening to the lyrics, he smirks to himself. A love song. It was soft and cheerful with just a hint of sass-it matched her _perfectly_. He could get used to this. He could get used to her.

"Pretend we're at some high school dance...  
The night will last and last and...last.."

Beth pulls up her head one last time and looks up at Daryl.

"I'm falling asleep, I don't think I can do this for much longer." she says with a breathy laugh. Beth smiles, and Daryl can't help but feel relief. He didn't know why, but with Beth, most everything felt natural. He had no way of explaining it. Being with her just felt _right_. He lets his hands drop from her waist and picks her up bridal style, just like he'd done when they were together at the funeral home. Beth lets out a small yelp, and for the first time all night, she's wide awake.

"Better get you upstairs then," Daryl says, making his way to her room as she holds onto him for support. As he's about to close her door and leave the room he hears her call out to him. He stops and waits, turning to hear what she has to say.

"Thanks, Daryl." She smiles. "Goodnight."

"Yeah. G'night to you too."

Maybe he didn't know what love really meant. But if anyone were to show him, maybe-just _maybe-_that person could be Beth Greene.

* * *

**To be honest a lot of Bethyl fics kinda go off on the assumption that if she had come with them to Alexandria that she and Daryl would be an immediate fling. He'd fall to his knees at the sight of her and have all this PDA and they'd never be apart and they'd be the new Glenn and Maggie, etc.**

**While I do agree that I think he'd feel responsible for her getting taken in the first place, I don't think that Daryl would be the kind of guy to just openly express how he felt about her, especially in a group like their own. I ship Bethyl as much as the next fangirl, but I don't think their relationship was quite there yet. It was going there, definitely, but it hadn't reached that point just yet.**

**Or, I don't know. That's just what I think, so I wrote this fic going off of that. Nothing going too fast, and nothing sexual. They were just discovering each other, and I think that the process of _discovering_ is half the fun in a relationship.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**EDIT: Song is "Kids" by Emily Kinney**


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